The War
by scarloot
Summary: This is just a huge crossover of a whole lot of RPG horror games. Mermaid Swamp and Corpse Party are the main ones but Mermaid Swamp wasn't on the select category list so yeah. Trigger warning for blood stuffs
1. Chapter 1

It all started a couple of days ago. Yuka, Seitaro, Yuuta and I had just arrived back from our trip to the mountains.  
"Hey...it's the Pink Sea! We're home!" cried Yuuta in triumph. "And I didn't get us lost this time!"  
"This time." I snorted, reminding him of what had happened.  
He stopped us outside Poniko's house. She was a good friend of Yuka's.  
"We should say hello!" Yuka smiled at Yuuta. "Thanks for stopping here,"  
"I knew you'd bug me about it."  
Yuka got out and hurried up to the door. I followed close behind. "Oi, Seitaro! Aren't you coming?" I called.  
"..." he hadn't heard me.  
I sighed and turned away as Yuka knocked on the door.  
It swung open, showing us an empty hallway.  
"Poniko?" Yuka sounded a little uncertain as she stepped inside the house.  
No reply. Not even the bark of her strange dog.  
"Has she gone away somewhere? Like we did?" Seitaro suggested, suddenly appearing behind us.  
"No...she would have said something..." Yuka whispered, brushing her blue hair out of her eyes.  
We left Poniko's house in a rush. We all wanted to find out what had happened to her.  
"Do you think Toritsuki will know what happened to her? Should we visit her house?" Yuka asked worredly.  
"She probably won't answer. Anyway, it doesn't look like anyone's home over there." Yuuta added, staring in the direction of Toritsuki's house.  
"I think we should go straight to the apartment building. Madotsuki is one of Poniko's best friends. She'll know, for sure." Seitaro decided for us.  
We spent most of the journey in silence. Suddenly-  
"Guys! The lights in the apartment aren't on! We'd be able to see them from here," Yuka gasped.  
"What the hell's goin' on?" I snapped. "Poniko appears to have left, along with her dog. Toritsuki doesn't seem to be home either. And now the power's gone out in the apartment? This doesn't add up!"  
"But...remember when we were on the way back from our trip? We saw those planes flying above us...we assumed they were going or coming back from some sort of airshow thing...but they didn't have their lights on, remember? And they were flying quite low..."  
"There's only one thing that fits in with all this..." Yuuta murmured, stopping the car. "But I need to make sure."  
He turned up the volume for the car radio. All that could be heard was static.  
"Try another channel." Yuka suggested.  
All we could hear was static.  
"Turn it off! It's bugging me!" I snapped.  
"Shut up, Rin. This is important." Yuuta retorted.  
I kicked the back of his chair, hard.  
"Ouch! Rin!"  
I snorted. "What proof is there? There might just be a power outage! Poniko could be staying with Madotsuki! Toritsuki could be at the cemetary, like she always is..."  
"Well...it's pretty obvious the radio stations aren't working...Not that we have many." Seitaro said. "That's one more thing that fits our theory."  
"Do you think..." Yuuta didn't finish his sentence.  
"It all seems to fit. The planes, the radio stations, Poniko, Toritsuki and the apartment building...I think it must be true...Rin, Yuka, Yuuta...we may have been invaded."

There was no time left. We had to get out of there, fast.  
I turned and fled from the building. I could hear only my heavy breathing, the pounding of my heart and my footsteps, slapping on the ground. A new sound was added to this. It was short and sharp and seemed to ring through the night.  
"Rin! Help!"  
That cry had sounded awfully like Yuka's. I realized then what the sound had been-a gunshot.  
The ghost of the gunshot echoed across our town. The town that was being invaded. The town which, up until now, had been my home.  
Right now I'm hiding out in the 'witch's forest'. It's rumoured that a young girl who lives here, Ellen, is a witch.  
I hope she is. Maybe a witch will be able to help us get out of this situation.  
But back to the beginning.  
While I was running, I couldn't tell if there were people ahead or in front of me. My only instinct was to get the hell out of there, and fast, without worrying about anyone else's safety. It was selfish, but it was my only thought in the rush of panic and adrenalin.  
Behind me were more gunshots. The shooting had really started up now. This was all happening as I sprinted past the swamp.  
"Rin!" came another cry. I spun around. There was a girl, Ayumi, I think her name is, running towards me. Behind her was an idiot going by the name of Tohma and another two people. I couldn't see them properly at the time.  
"Shaddup and get towards the trees!" I yelled at them.  
Luckily, they heard me and all split up as we reached the edge of the forest.  
By now the soldiers had given up chasing us. They were back at the apartment building, taking care of the people they had already captured. But we could never be too sure.  
"Ayumi!" I hissed to the blue-haired girl. She was pressed against a tree near mine.  
"Wh-what is it?" she whispered, looking absolutely terrified. I didn't blame her.  
"Head towards the center of the 'witch's forest'. We can camp out there until morning. Tell the others," I whispered as I gazed around through the trees, trying to spot someone. Bright yellow hair told me Tohma was also close by.  
"Tohma!" I called softly. Well, as softly as I could manage.  
"Huh?" he grunted. "Rin?"  
"Head towards the middle of the 'witch's forest'. Don't ask, just run."  
He nodded hesitantly, then turned and fled.  
Coward, I thought.  
"Rin! Let's go! I can't find a-anyone else!" Ayumi's voice wobbled a little as we ran together.  
Every now and then I was whipped in the face by a branch, but it didn't matter. We needed to get as far away from the town as possible. At least until morning.  
After about two minutes of running straight through the forest, I smacked straight into Tohma. He was standing in the middle of a clearing.  
"You idiot!" I spat at him, stumbling into a tree. "Warn me before I'm about to crash into something, shrimpface!"  
"How was I supposed to know?" he complained, pouting.  
Ayumi skidded to a halt just ahead of me, panting. A few moments later two more people arrived in our clearing.  
"Viola?" Ayumi gasped. "I thought you were shot!"  
"I just got away," Viola clutched at her side.  
Another boy stood next to her. He looked close to tears, but that may have been because of a large cut across his face.  
"Satoshi!" Ayumi's voice rang out yet again.  
"Do you know everyone?" I snapped.  
"Satoshi's in my class, at school," she explained.  
I thought back to the soldiers pouring out the building, Seitaro, Yuka, Yuuta and I being separated...and the bullet which had probably struck Yuka.  
"I know we've been invaded...but...what the hell went on back there?" I said.  
"The soldiers were guarding that building," Viola explained. "I was just being escorted in there with Tohma, Ayumi, Satoshi and a few others...that's when you and a your friends arrived, Rin."  
Our group fell into silence. I had a large backpack on, and there appeared to be an abandoned one on the ground.  
"I picked it up while we were running," Satoshi spoke for the first time. "It had fallen off when a girl running behind me was struck down." he sounded slightly shaken.  
"Yuka!" I exclaimed. "That was my friend Yuka! Was she alive?"  
"I don't know..." he whispered.  
I shook my head to clear it. "Yuka and I had the two packs on the way back. Seitaro and Yuuta were either too lazy or carried 'em when we first left. I can't remember. That means...we should have four tents and four sleeping bags. Along with our leftover food. We brought a lot."  
We all set to work pitching up the tents and setting up the sleeping bags.  
"We won't be here long...only for the night, right?" Viola asked me.  
"Yeah. We won't need to start a fire. This isn't serious camping. Unless we're far far away from where we should be. That'll be thanks to Tohma!" I snapped, glaring at him furiously.  
"It ain't my fault!" he glared straight back. "You could have told me to keep running, but you just stopped in the clearing!"  
"Don't argue! We need to get along if we're going to survive this!" Ayumi protested.  
I snorted and turned away, unpacking some of the food.

The next day had almost as much excitement as the next. That was when Ayumi came up with the idea of writing all this down. I was nominated as the writer, as I had nothing else to do for the rest of the day and no one else could be bothered. They seemed to think that since I was the oldest, I must be the best at writing. I'm not so sure about that.  
But they forced me to, so in the end a pencil and a roll of paper was shoved at me and I got writing.  
I'd finished writing down the first little bit when we heard a gunshot. Ayumi, Viola and I all froze. Satoshi and Tohma were, at the time, out looking for anyone else who had escaped from the apartment the night before.  
"Those idiots!" I exclaimed. "They must have gone too close to the town! Quick, pack everything up before those dumb soldiers reach us!"  
We packed up everything pretty fast. Faster than we had unpacked it, and a lot faster than Yuuta and Seitaro could.  
Just as we were about to leave, Satoshi came bursting into the clearing. Tohma was nowhere to be seen.  
Satoshi answered our unspoken question. "He's been shot. Now run!"  
Everyone's eyes filled with panic as it dawned on us what was going on.  
I grabbed one of the bags and ran for my life. Satoshi took the other and off we went. I heard the thumping of the soldiers' feet behind us. They sounded quite far away. The packs were slowing Satoshi and I down though. It wouldn't be long before they caught us.  
But suddenly, the footsteps stopped. I whipped around quickly, and caught sight of a rabbit darting through the bushes. I heard a laugh then a gunshot. I continued running, getting as far away from there as possible. They didn't follow us after that.  
We all stopped beside a large pine tree.  
"I want to go back and find Tohma." Viola said immediatly. "We can't just leave him behind. Especially since he's been shot."  
The rest of us silently agreed. We rushed back towards the spot Satoshi and Tohma had been. Satoshi and I headed towards a river while Viola and Ayumi checked a small clearing.  
"Wh-what's that?" Satoshi exclaimed suddenly. I followed his gaze to a pool of blood. It was hard to see, as the blood was drying and blending in with the colour of the ground.  
Looking further, we spotted some sort of trail leading through the bushes. Satoshi and I followed it in silence. We'd all heard the gunshot.  
"Do you think's he's still...alive?" Satoshi whispered.  
"I dunno! I don't think he coulda survived that bullet wound...but yeah...I dunno."  
"...I hope he is."  
"Me too."  
Tohma's body lay half in the water and half on the bank of the river. It seemed he had attempted to drag himself towards our 'camp' so we could tend to his wound. Of course, he hadn't made it that far. Satoshi turned on his heel and sprinted back to find the others. I just stared at the bullet wound in Tohma's back, wondering how we would survive this war.


	2. Chapter 2

_The blood dripped from the branch of a small oak tree. A drop landed on my shoulder, making me shiver. I slowly looked up.  
Naturally, I let out a small squeal at what I saw..._

We buried his body next to the river. There was really nowhere else to put it. We didn't have a real hideout yet. And although we were near the center of the forest, there didn't seem to be any sign of this 'witch's house' we'd heard about.  
No one spoke for quite a while. I don't blame them; I was shocked too. It was so sudden. One minute we were laughing and smiling together, next there was a war, and Tohma lay with a bullet lodged in his back. He probably would have had more of a chance of survival if we'd found him sooner...or not sent him out at all.  
"What are we going to do now?" Viola spoke first, softly.  
"We have to...get out of here." Ayumi said quietly. She lifted her pretty blue gaze and stared at Satoshi. "We need to leave as fast as we can. I don't care where we go, as long as we're not stuck in this forest."  
Everyone else nodded in agreement.  
"All right then," she stood up, all shock gone in an instant. "Satoshi and I will carry the bags. Viola, Rin, you scout ahead and look for any patrols or soldiers."  
Satoshi hesitated, then nodded. "...Sounds good."  
Ayumi nodded, smiling a little, then picked up one of the bags. "We should get going immediately."  
I stood up. "Let's go then, Viola."  
She didn't reply, just stared into the distance.  
"Viola," I waved my hand in front of her face. "Earth to Viola!"  
"It's...so awful..." She whispered. "Why has this happened to us? We should be at our houses, with our friends, at school...anywhere but a war zone. I don't...want this..." She got to her feet swiftly and stared at us. "I'm going to my friend Ellen's house. She'll be able to help us more than anyone. I'll see you guys...whenever."  
"Viola!" Ayumi dropped her bag. "What are you saying? That's not like you, I know you! You can't just abandon us in the middle of a war! Besides, what if your friend isn't home? What will you do then...?"  
Viola blinked. "I just...I just want to see her again. I'll be able to find you guys after that. I'll know where you are, Ellen knows every corner of this forest, and she's a witch so-"  
I gasped. "E-Ellen? Your friend...the witch?"  
Satoshi stood up and stared at Viola. "Ellen's the witch?" He said seriously. "You're not joking?"  
Viola shook her head. Her braids, turned silver in the moonlight, swayed across her shoulders. "No. I would never lie. It's the truth, and I'm going to see her. You can come with me, I don't care, I just have to make sure she's okay. If it's...fine with you...I'd like to go see her."  
"Viola, do you have any idea how dangerous that is? I can't just...let you wander off by yourself. I don't care how much you know about this forest, you're staying with us." Ayumi frowned.  
Viola held her gaze for a few seconds, then turned her head. "It may not sound like I'm in my right state of mind, but...this is what I have to do. I have to go find Ellen. Something's telling me she's in trouble, and...I don't want anything bad to happen to her. After all, we're friends, right? Yeah, it's not good to be abandoning you, but I can't just leave her either. So...I'll go."  
And with that, she turned and left. Out of the blue, Viola just...left.  
"Rin...you have to go after her," Ayumi said. "we can't lose someone else just because they want to see their friend...or whatever. I don't want there to be any more deaths!" She sniffed a little.  
I nodded, left her with Satoshi, and ran off after Viola.

I heard a gunshot in the distance. Panicking, I whipped around, turning in all directions. Yet...nothing was there. I didn't here any other sounds after that, so I assumed Viola and any number of friends she had were safe.  
So I decided to ignore it and kept moving. Big mistake.  
A cry came from behind me. I heard many footsteps, all heading in my direction.  
I moved immediately, racing through the trees and bushes as fast as I could. I could still hear the soldiers, blundering through the plants around us. There was one point when I thought I was dead, when I stumbled into a tree. But it turns out the soldiers were further behind that I thought, because I got away before any bullets could be fired.  
So I just kept running, not knowing where I was going, quickly becoming exhausted, quickly feeling all that was left of my energy and stamina fade from my body. I couldn't run any further. I knew I wouldn't have enough energy to put up a fight if they caught me.  
I stopped running.  
That was another huge mistake. Of course they caught up to me. The soldiers aimed their guns at me, and I held my hands up, too tired to do anything about it except yell.  
"Why can't you just get out of our town?!" I shouted at them. "What did we ever do to you, huh?! It's not our fault! It's not out fault you-"  
I stopped talking. A soldier was about to pull the trigger on his rifle. I gasped.  
As soon as I gasped, a voice seemed to come out of nowhere at all.  
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" A tall girl with two brown pigtails seemed to fly at the soldiers. She knocked a couple of them back with a baseball bat she was carrying, and they crumpled. One of the other two soldiers lifted her rifle and aimed it at the girl, but before she could I kicked her in the stomach and followed through with a punch to her jaw, sending her flying to the ground too.  
The last soldier turned and fled, knowing there was no way she could beat us, but for some reason we let her run.  
I turned to the girl. "Where the hell did you come from?!" I immediately covered my mouth with my hand, glanced briefly at the soldiers (who lay unconscious on the ground) and remembered I had to whisper.  
"I wasn't captured in the first place. My friend Ayaka and I were split up after school, and the next thing I know we're being invaded. I went to look for her, but I can't find her anywhere. Now I know she must be in the apartment building." The other girl whispered. "I'm Aki, by the way. And you are...?"  
I stared at her. "Rin. Rin Yamazaki. And we-our little group, I mean-weren't captured either. There were five of us, but one of us, Tohma, died-"  
Aki interrupted me with a gasp. "T-Tohma? Dead? No way! It can't be...!" She dropped her baseball bat. "Wh-what...why?"  
"He was shot." I told her grimly.  
Aki glared at the ground. "I...I..." She looked up suddenly. "What an idiot, going and getting himself killed like that!"  
I was quite startled by her reaction. "W-well...I know we kinda met suddenly an' all...but would you like to join our...team?" I asked her, pretending to ignore the fact that she had almost completely brushed off the loss of someone she clearly knew well.  
Aki nodded, picking up her baseball bat again. "Definitely. I don't care who's part of it, I'll join you guys."  
"So..." I said impatiently, after a few moments of silence. "Shouldn't we get going?"  
"Yup! Where's the camp?"  
"Uh...well...I'm actually out looking for a friend that...wandered off. So if you, carefully-" I eyed the unconscious soldiers wearily. They could wake up at any time. "-go and look for our little clearing, you'll probably find two people, Ayumi and Satoshi, there." I explained.  
"Okay. I'll be safe, I promise." Aki whispered.  
"Yeah, be safe 'n' all that." I turned and started walking through the undergrowth.  
_What a strange girl, _I thought as I carefully picked my way through the forest. _She seemed almost...relaxed. It's almost as if she's been in a war before and knows exactly how it goes or something._  
I wandered around the forest for a bit. I had no idea where I was, and was getting quite worried that I was going to end up coming across another patrol.  
I couldn't call for her. I couldn't do anything but search, quietly. It was frustrating. I wasn't quite sure why Viola had suddenly decided to get up and go to her friend's house. It wasn't peacetime. She couldn't just decide she could wanted to see Ellen and ask her Father for permission or anything.  
This was war. This was serious. And anyone who forgot that payed the price.  
That was probably why I wasn't so shocked when I heard a dripping sound. I spotted a dark pool of blood not far from where I was standing. It was hidden in the darkness, but I could just make it out.  
The blood dripped from the branch of a small oak tree. A drop landed on my shoulder, making me shiver. I slowly looked up. Naturally, I let out a small squeal at what I saw.  
One end of a rope was tied to a large branch about halfway up the tree. A little down from that was...A cute girl...with golden braids.  
"Viola!" I exclaimed. I completely forgot about being quiet in my surprise. Although...I wasn't as surprised as I probably should've been. I'd half guessed this sort of thing would happen to her. I just didn't want to face it.  
She hung, uselessly, from the branch, her body swaying slightly. The blood was dripping slowly from a gash in her leg. It looked like she had hung herself...but that didn't seem like Viola...did it?  
I couldn't move. I was frozen to the spot. How was I going to tell the others? How would they deal with it?  
_Two deaths...and it hasn't even been that long. Why has this happened to us? None of us asked for this...so...why? I don't think anyone can take much more of this. We...we have to save our town!_


End file.
